1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for managing communication in a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to an in-band integrated signaling technique which is based on a distributed network context in a network of devices.
2. Related Art
Many communication systems continue to use protocols and architectures that were developed 40 years ago, when there were severe memory and processing constraints. For example, because of such constraints, the protocols in the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) were organized into a network protocol stack in which: most protocols were decoupled from the physical medium, the protocol layers in the network protocol stack operated independently of each other, and processing and storage ‘inside’ the network was kept to a minimum. Consequently, the resulting packet-switching architecture was based on ‘in-band, in-packet signaling,’ which minimizes the use of in-network processing and storage resources, and maximizes the use of the links.
In this signaling architecture (which is sometimes referred to as ‘packet switching based on an independent network protocol stack’), routers (the packet switches) maintain the minimum information needed to forward packets to the next destination or hop, and each packet contains a header and a payload, with the header carrying all the control information needed for each protocol layer of the network protocol stack. Moreover, each packet (which is sometimes referred to as a ‘datagram’) is switched independently of the other packets, as well as independently of the type (or intent) of its payload. Furthermore, all processing and storage of information occurs at the edges of the network (i.e., at the hosts). Thus, in this signaling architecture, there is a division of labor between hosts and routers.
Packet switching based on an independent network protocol stack continues to be used in the Internet Protocol (IP) of the Internet. This is typically adequate for wired segments of the Internet in which over-provisioning of links is feasible. However, this packet-switching architecture is often poorly suited to the needs of other portions of the Internet and other types of networks, such as mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). MANETs are very different than wired networks because of: device mobility, the characteristics of the radio channels, and the relative scarcity of bandwidth. In contrast with wired networks, the wireless portions of networks typically need to be ubiquitous and invisible. Thus, each node or device in a MANET usually acts as a host and a router, and providing users with service is typically more important than obtaining high-link utilization.
Furthermore, packet switching based on an independent network protocol stack can lead to significant inefficiency. This is because different protocol layers often have duplicate functionality, and the limited communication in the network protocol stack (which is typically restricted to neighboring protocol layers) constrains optimization. For example, using this signaling architecture to communicate 50 bytes of voice data in a data packet can require 200 bytes of header information to meet the requirements of the different protocol layers. Additionally, packet switching based on a network protocol stack does not take advantage of the in-network processing and storage resources available in current mobile devices (e.g., personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, etc.), which are orders of magnitude larger than what was available 40 years ago.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus that facilitates management of communication in communication systems without the problems listed above.